Nice start to 2026. Hung around at home, took down the outside Christmas decorations. Wanted to get that done before it decided to snow, as unlikely as that is with today’s temperatures. During the day I also finished an awesome audio book that I have been trying to find time to listen to. “The President Is Missing” could very well be set in current tines. Check it out if you get a chance.
Took Climber and Res on alone walks, they need to be walked by themselves occasionally and I try to do this on weekends when I have time and it gives Jesse a break. Res decided to sniff every blade of grass along the way.
Then went over to Olympic Park to do a section of trail that I have not done before.I wanted to connect my completed trails at Cherry Creek State Park to my completed trails in Aurora. I still have the goal of completing all of the trails sometime in the next year. A lot depends on weather and travel. The long sections I can only do on weekends.
It almost looks like Olympic Park was taken over by Canada’s Air Force – The Canadian Geese.
Total distance: 5.04 mi Max elevation: 5698 ft Min elevation: 5604 ft Total climbing: 367 ft Total descent: -360 ft Average speed: 4.24 mi/h Average cadence: 58 Average heart rate: 126 Average temperature: Total time: 01:13:10
Time to say goodbye to 2025 and hello to 2026. I know, everyone in the world makes a similar post at the New Year.
I finally made some awesome progress on my goals to run/jog/walk all of the Aurora, CO Trails.
And finally I made good progress on my other fitness goals this year. My Garmin tells the story:
My work travels took me far and wide across the country this year. The pins on the map below tell the story.
This afternoon I started my New Year’s Eve technology routine that I have been following for 20+ years:
Clean out all of my inboxes and file all messages in the appropriate 2025 folders.
Move all of my sent mail out of all the account’s sent mail boxes into my 2025 sent mail folder.
Move all of my documents and downloads into my Documents_2025-Dec-31 and Downloads_2025-Dec-31 folders.
Make sure my work logs and expense reports are all completed.
Create my 2026 IMAP folder on the server with my basic sub-folders.
Re-point all of my scripts to the appropriate folders in the 2026 files.
Make sure phones and all devices are up to date.
Do my online postings saying Happy New Year and goodbye to 2025.
Then, I sit back, relax, do anything I forgot about. And make sure my dogs don’t get scared to death from the fireworks.
So, what is next for 2026? I have a few goals, I hate the word “resolutions”, I can share some of them here:
I need to get back into swimming shape. I finally got back into the pool a few months back and I can barely do 1,000 yards. This is from the guy that 3 years ago could do 5 and 10K open water swims.
Need to loose 20 pounds. This may have something to do with the above problem.
I want to do some hiking this year. I live in Colorado, there is so much I haven’t seen or done.
I want to do at least one of the lake series swim events. Not sure which one yet.
See where work takes me this year, but I need to attempt to maintain a work/life balance. Let’s see if I can make some progress on that.
Try to get back into my glass sandblasting work. I think I am also going to invest in a CNC router/laster this year.
I need to finally release my 52 weeks of HVAC that I have promised myself I would do for YouTube every year but never get around to it.
I will probably not set many fitness goals for 2026 other than the swimming and the mountain lake series. I have had some health issues and have decided that I do not want to push myself too much. I want to be able to adjust based on how I feel.
Res and Climber normally post about their adventures on their facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8563662930377524 but Facebook does not make it easy to post sequential photographs and tell a story, so Res and Climber asked me to let them post here. OK, we will give this a shot. Please share on your own social media if you like.
Res: We have had a busy day! It started getting cold in Colorado so Dad decided to put us in our coats. It was just under 30 degrees and he was muttering something about “this will be interesting.” Well, I like my coat so I had no problem putting it on! It matches my colors.
Climber: There is no way in HE double hockey sticks I am wearing this.
Dad: Yes you are. And you better get used to it.
Climber: You will take me out of this thing! (starts rolling around the grass trying to get her coat off, people around us are taking video).
Res: Can we leave here? She’s an embarrassment. She won’t go anywhere as she refusing to walk.
Me: Nope, we can’t leave her. Guess she wins on the coat, for now, we will let the other dad do a few solo walks with her and a coat.
Res: Ok, but I keep telling you she is trouble.
[Park walk complete and couple hours later]
Res: Sis! We going someplace!!! We going for a ride!! [Bouncing around]
Climber: How you know?
Res: Dad’s car is out of the garage and we are in our muzzles! Don’t you dare mess this up!
Climber: He may be taking us to the dawgtor. Me not sure about this.
Res: Nope, Dawgtor is only one of us at a time. We both on leashes and muzzles. We both go.
Me: Res, if you can get your front paws up into the car why do I have to lift your back-end?
Res: It’s good exercise, you are supposed to be lifting anyways and you’re not.
Me: Climber, I know you can jump a 4 foot wall, why can’t you hop up into the car.
Climber: Lift me!
Me: Ok, behave now!
Res: No chance of that with her in the car. If she steps on me, can I get her?
Me: Exactly why you both have muzzles on.
Res: We here! We Here! So much sniffing and looking to do!
Climber: Look!!!! WATER!!! GO GO GO!!!
Me: Climber that is going to be cold, but I’ll let you get your feet wet.
Climber: BIRDS!!!! Get Them!!!
Me: I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
Res: Why not?
Me: Canada’s army is doing maneuvers, those are Canadian Geese and they are mean!
Climber: I can win! I hear they taste like Chicken!
Me: Nope, the vets are closed today.
Res: Look, mountains! When can we go to the mountains?
Me: We’ll try to go in the Spring. Right now the roads are too snowy through the tunnels.
Res: Dad, how much longer?
Me: Until your sister is tired out.
Res: We don’t have all day! She never tired.
Me: We have 1.5 miles back to the car. I am sure you can make it.
Res: Get the sticker out of my paw!!!
Res: FINALLY!!!! Get me in the car!
Me: OK, now you both jump right in? You couldn’t do that at home? You suck!
Res: We are home. Nap time!!!
Me: So, active day today, first our morning park walk, and then the visit to the State Park!
Total distance: 3.02 mi Max elevation: 5619 ft Min elevation: 5552 ft Total climbing: 267 ft Total descent: -253 ft Average speed: 2.89 mi/h Average cadence: Average heart rate: 105 Average temperature: 22.4 Total time: 01:10:38
Total distance: 1.12 mi Max elevation: 5617 ft Min elevation: 5560 ft Total climbing: 94 ft Total descent: -90 ft Average speed: 2.74 mi/h Average cadence: Average heart rate: 101 Average temperature: 20.4 Total time: 00:32:20
Today started off with dropping the rental car at LAX and taking the shuttle bus (they have a People Mover that for some reason they can’t get working) to the terminals. Car rental shuttles are a curse of the past and should remain there. The positive side of this morning was it took me less than 10 minutes to get through security at LAX.
Finally a nice flight home, then my usual “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” and I was home.
Of course when I get here the chimney contractor that I had asked to come out and look at our chimney found that the entire inside of the chimney is destroyed and it looks like someone in the past had a chimney fire at some point. Also, it hadn’t been cleaned in about 5-6 years. Yup, that goes along with everything else we have found in the house. I kept thinking they had a fire at some point. I would think you should disclose that stuff on your property disclosures.
Anyways, I am sure this is going to end up with about another $10K worth of repair work. Guess I know where my bonus is going this year.
Anyways, at this point home. No more trips planned.
Today was the last day of work in Los Angeles, I can finally go home! This started off as only being a one day trip out, two days of work, and one day of travel back. Then… the phenomenon of “while you are out there” hit. Turned out to be one day travel out, 4 days of work, and one day travel back. Yeh, I could have predicted that, in fact I did when I packed enough clothing for the extra days.
The claim I had to do today sort of annoyed me. The last technician who was assigned to it backed out of it because of a loose dog in the yard (the worst she would have done is lick you to death if she had even moved), not to mention that to get to the electric meter one didn’t even have to go into the yard. Then, the whole reason a Technical Field Manager was being sent was that the 1099 technician said that PPE (personal protection equipment – read, “Tyvex body suit and N-95 mask”) was needed. On the way out stopped at the local Home Depot and got the supplies. Turns out wasn’t even needed. Yup, house was damaged, but no place as bad as the other technician said. He just didn’t want to do it. Anyways, it’s done.
Got back, went to the grocery store up the street from the hotel. I do that frequently while traveling, especially on weekends, because sometimes the weekend cooks at the hotel restaurants are really bad as was proven again last night. Went up got some really good roasted chicken, cheese, crackers, and fruit for a snack later today. As I was looking at cheese the gentleman working the “good cheese” area offered me a sample of their specialty cheese for the season. OK, I didn’t know it existed but Pumpkin Spice cheese is a thing, and a damn good thing! I didn’t get any as it would have been difficult to bring back to Aurora, but I did find out Ralph’s is part of Kroger and they all carry the same products. Yup, Jesse is going to go find me some Pumpkin Spice cheese.
We all get into routines. When I finish an out of town work trip, I have some of my own routines, I catch myself doing the same thing each and every time: 1) I stop in the first parking lot I come across as I leave the last loss location and re-pack all of my tools in the tool suitcase. I also search under all of the seats and anyplace else where things could have rolled. 2) I make sure that all of my receipts are entered into Concur so that I do not have to deal with them after I get home. 3) Back at the hotel, pack all of the dirty clothes into the laundry back, make sure I have accounted for everything. Get it all into one place. 4) Search my backpack and make sure that there is nothing hiding in there the TSA won’t like and steal. 5) Rest and relax. Tomorrow is a travel day, the airline Gods, the TSA Gods, and the ATC Gods willing.
Time for the remaining part of my “Rest and Relax”!
Finally! Just to say it again: :LA Drivers SUCK!!!
Interesting day today. Started off this morning with a wildfire related inspection in the Pacific Palisades area. It’s sort of depressing, the signs of fire are still all over the hill-sides. We are going on a year in January and most of the demolition has been done. Most buildings that are left have their power back on, and most services have returned. But, the empty foundations serve as a reminder of what is done, as well as what is not done.
Real Estate signs are sprouting all over the place, many people are selling their lots rather than re-building. And it appears the heavy metal contamination is the topic of conversation. Then, to make matters worse, some of the remediation contractors that came into peoples homes to do cleanup may have (for lack of better terms) – half-assed what they did. One home I was in yesterday I still found signs of soot and ash in places that had already been cleaned.
The hills are starting to show signs of vegetation but Los Angeles is going into it’s rainy season so mudslides right now are a real threat as the heavy root system of established vegetation is part of what holds the hills in place.
Look at the burnt mailboxes standing next to the plants that somehow survived.
Then my afternoon appointment was not part of the LA wildfires, but rather a garage fire. I always knew it would happen, but I had met the insured before. I am not sure if he recognized me, and to keep it professional and fair for all, I did not remind him that we had met before. He is someone that I met in the mid 1980’s who made an impression on me when I was involved in the fight for LGBT rights before the rest of the letters were added. We were fighting for people to be alive rather for everything that followed. I did not realize what a life he has made for himself until I nosed around on Google and IMDB when I got back to the hotel. Damn, he also lost a lot in the fire they had, I really wanted to give him a hug he desperately needed, but I couldn’t as I had to remain professional as a 3rd party. But it is so hard to put a value on sentimental loss.
Fire is such a scary thing. It’s why when we moved into our new house the first thing I did was had an electrician come in and replace our breaker panel and install Arc Fault Circuit Interrupt (AFCI) breakers for all the circuits in the house. These breakers are designed to trip and cut off power with any signs of an arc (spark) that can happen with a broken wire, faulty insulation, and critter damage to wiring. They can prevent fires. If you have older (really any) electrical in your house, I believe it is well worth it to try and have AFCI breakers installed. Take it from someone that has seen a lot of damage.
I re-entered the Facebook community today as I stayed away for the month of October, but for November I think I am going to write my thoughts here and share them on Facebook as a link to the pages here. I still don’t trust the Facebook algorithms and AI and I would like to keep control of my posts.
One more day and then I head home. I hate Los Angeles.
Today was another day of inspections in the wild fire areas around Los Angeles, Palisades, and Pasadena. Started the day off in Pasadena, I was running early and ended up near the Pasadena gardens and decided to stop and walk through. The gardens are not in the best of shape but still had some neat flowers and plants. They have different areas for “desert”, “plains”, etc.
Spent the rest of the day basically sitting in traffic. The good part about today was that every inspection I did was a valid loss event. Something to write in my digital diary and in my calendar. It is hard to believe that over a year later the fire damage is still so extreme. I may stop and take some perspective photos tomorrow.
I was done around 3pm and then came back to the hotel, caught up on some paperwork, yes my desk job never really goes away, and then decided to try to get out for some exercise. Found a park nearby and went down in that direction to check it out.
Total distance: 2.29 mi Max elevation: 136 ft Min elevation: 99 ft Total climbing: 196 ft Total descent: -190 ft Average speed: 3.94 mi/h Average cadence: 55 Average heart rate: 108 Average temperature: Total time: 00:37:14
What a wonderful day to be sitting in traffic in Los Angeles, CA. I really do not understand what the draw is to this area and why people want to live here. The traffic is awful! Today I started in Southeast Los Angeles then had to drive the I-5 and I-10 to Northwest of Los Angeles in the Pacific Palisades. Then back to my hotel a near LAX. I think I ran out of curse words.
I will say that the day started off nicely when I walked out of the hotel and spotted one of my favorite flowers, the Bird of Paradise.
The insurance inspections today was one commercial Theft/Vandalism claim of an 80,000 sq foot cold storage warehouse – someone took all the copper including the refrigeration piping and the wiring. The only other thing taken was the video recorder for the surveillance system. Someone knew exactly where that was, and it was not obvious.
Second inspection was a water claim in an apartment complex. Upstairs neighbors had a pipe break and drowned the kitchen of the downstairs apartment. Not good but at least most of the HVAC did not get damaged.
Third inspection was a smoke/fire claim from the Pacific Palisades wildfire last year. That area is still in very bad shape and re-building is not going well. There is ash in everything and the smoke damage is obvious. To make matters more interesting there is a lot of “questionable” claims being made. The trick is finding out what is valid vs what is questionable. Thankfully today none of the inspections I completed were in the “questionable” category.
What am I doing today? Well, how does an instant trip to Los Angeles sound to you?
Had an electrical theft vandalism claim that came across my desk yesterday morning that needed a little extra attention and after discussions between myself and my manager we decided the best thing would be for me to fly out to LA for a few days and do a complex inspection of the damaged location.
The in office part of my job includes pricing the repairs and replacements required to return the insured to “pre-loss condition” after a loss event. In many instances we use a great bunch of 1099 contractors (electricians) that do the inspections for us. Occasionally there are many unanswered questions or I look at the inspection and have a gut instinct that something is missing that is preventing me from accurately pricing the repairs and replacements. When that happens we usually send a senior tech or one of our Technical Field Managers to gather missing information. In this case I was the most available, and I can write much of the report before I leave the site. Given it is the end of the month it made the most sense for me to travel out and complete this inspection.
The downside of that is that while I am traveling and doing some field work, the office side does not stop. I have some fantastic co-workers that do try and take some of the load off of me, but the heavy pricing side of things is my evening activity.
I will be out in Los Angeles for the next few days and be flying back to Denver, CO on Sunday.
BTW: Why is it about 70 degrees warmer in LA than in Denver? As one of my colleagues said, “Welcome to Southern California”
Trying to decide what my evening workout is going to be. I guess I am going to attempt a walk on the treadmill — or not.
Today was what I consider an “office day”, that is a day spent catching up on all the things that I should be doing (and get backed up) when I am out in the field. Spent most of the day working on Commercial Electrical Claim pricing and scope (what repairs are needed to get the insured back to “pre-loss condition”), and other processing support.
My new Thermal Imaging camera showed up in the Amazon delivery today. I think this one will service my purposes better than the last version that made it about 1.5 years and died. I think the physical connection to the phone is the problem. The new one works via WiFi connection and it won’t have that point of failure. It will also work on either Android or iOS.
Of course because I have a new tool (toy?) perhaps I needed to test it out on some willing suspects. See if you can identify the dogs in the gallery below. It looks like I will need to calibrate the temperatures the first time I am out in the field.
On another note, it looks like Winter is almost here. The ski resorts are opening, the first avalanche was caused by a back country skier, and the grass was crunchy when I went out with the dogs this morning.
